The present invention relates, in general, to locking puller devices for removing bearings and pullers as such.
While there are patents issued in this prior art, and some of them were issued to this inventor, there will always be a need to improve upon products and inventions publicly known and used, because of the ever increasing demand to do things more quickly at a cheaper cost and with improved quality. This is especially true with Locking Puller Devices. A review of the prior art does not suggest the important and useful improvements as described in the present invention.
Known prior arts relating to puller devices as such were found in the following issued patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,569,918; 2,303,560; 2,889,617; 2,956,336; 4,007,535, 4,068,365. These prior arts do not have the improvements as the present invention. The prior arts as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,007,535 and 4,068,365, in particular, were invented by this inventor. These prior arts relate to a locking puller device. The second of these two patents pertains to improvements made on the first patent. The first patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,535, could not spread the arm-like jaws automatically. Whereas, in the second patent, the inventor improved upon his first invention by inventing additional elements which modified and were added to the first patent and which would spread the arm-like jaws automatically. In each of these two patents, the collar, where the arm-like jaws are mounted, have narrow flanges extending laterally from the collar. The arm-like jaws are pivotally mounted to these flanges. When the arm-like jaws are locked about an object and when force is applied to the shaft where the object is mounted to remove the object off the shaft, enormous stress is placed on the flanges. Occasionally, these flanges are damaged because of this stress, and as a result, the collar, from where the flanges extend, have had to be replaced along with the sleeve since the sleeve is fixed to the collar.
The present invention, which is an improvement over the inventions previously patented, has completely improved the collar, so that it will withstand the enormous stress that is placed on the collar and won't become damaged as the arm-like jaws are locked about an object and as the threaded rod is moved forward against the shaft of the object. This improvement is not an obvious improvement, because it was not known until after all the machining and testing of the new and improved collar as to whether or not the new collar would be able to withstand the stress and the force exerted on it unlike the old collar having the flanges.
Further, the known prior arts, specifically the two patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,007,535 and 4,068,365, for which this invention is an improvement, have a sleeve fixed to the rearward side of the collar. The joint of where the collar and the sleeve meet fatigues and is often damaged, because of the force and stress placed on both the collar and sleeve as the locking device is used. As a result, the sleeve has literally broken away from the collar, and both the sleeve and the collar have had to be replaced.
Additionally, the two patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,007,535 and 4,068,365, have a sleeve which is threaded. From time to time, the threads on the sleeve become damaged, and the nut which is threaded on the sleeve cannot move along the sleeve thus making the locking device inoperable. The sleeve must be replaced so that the nut can move along the sleeve in order for the locking device to function at all. But, instead of just replacing the sleeve, the collar and the sleeve all have to be replaced, even though the collar is not damaged. This present invention overcomes this problem. The sleeve, in the present invention, is not fixed to the collar, but can be easily removed from the collar and replaced with a new sleeve should the sleeve become damaged in some way.
There is a definite need for a new and improved locking device which overcomes all of the problems noted above.